Friday, July 6, 2012

My cake is slipping

Lemon Curd Layer Cake. I forgot to the fresh lemon slices on top

Today I finished making a lemon curd layer cake. I had
promised a celebration birthday cake for
Anita and Marsena, but then life got complicated and I didn’t get around to it
until this week. This recipe is complicated, too. For me, anyway. But if you do
it step by step the resulting cake is memorable. Four days ago I made the
required six cups of lemon curd which is so good you have to hide it from
yourself. Using fresh farm eggs makes the curd bright as oxeye daisies. Yesterday
I made the three cake layers. Today I whipped the cream, blended in some of the
curd and topped each level with curd followed by cream frosting. The final
layer is covered in cream frosting, the remaining curd is spread on the top and
then rest of the whipped cream is piped around the edges. So beautiful.

Maybe because it was too hot in the house, or perhaps it is
just me, but the cake is sitting in the refrigerator slipping its top. Oh, and
another thing, my layers came out of the oven tall and beautiful and promptly
fell. It will still taste marvelous.

Beloved, my projects, my life is never quite perfect.

I’m posting the recipe in case anyone else is in love with
lemon deserts. Just know – you really need to start this a day in advance
because the curd needs to cool and the frosting needs to set up for 3-4 hours. From
Bon Appetite magazine…

Spoon 1 c. frosting into pastry bag fitted with plain round
tip. Refrigerate while you put the rest together. Place 1 layer on cake plate.
Spread top with 1/3 c. curd and 1 c. frosting. Do same with the next. Top with
third layer and spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Spread remaining
curd on the top leaving a ¾ inch border around. Pipe little mounds of chilled
bagged frosting around edge. Place lemon slices between mounds. Can be made a
day ahead.

5 comments:

Margie, this cake looks amazing! I may attempt it someday so will keep the recipe. My mother used to make me white cake with lemon curd filling for all my birthdays. So yummy. By the way, tomorrow I'm making the Three Bean Salad from your latest Notes From Toad Hall for a gathering tomorrow night so thanks also for that recipe.

Margie, this cake looks amazing! I may attempt it someday so will keep the recipe. My mother used to make me white cake with lemon curd filling for all my birthdays. So yummy. By the way, tomorrow I'm making the Three Bean Salad from your latest Notes From Toad Hall for a gathering tomorrow night so thanks also for that recipe.

Margie, that lemon cake looks and sounds delicious! We love lemony desserts. Seriously love.One year for my mother's birthday I tackled a fussy layers of cake and lemon curd thing and it didn't go so well. I threw the whole thing into the fridge hoping some cold air would help it stay together. My stepfather who nearly always manages to find something nice to say spotted it in the fridge; he froze and said, "O..." trying to find something kind to add, came up empty and finished with his original intention "...crap." It is one of my very favorite memories of him. Your cake made me say, "O! Yum!"

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For many years we lived in Toad Hall, an old American Gothic Foursquare house named for the mansion in Wind in the Willows although ours wasn’t really a mansion, the kids just thought it was. Now we live in a different home – one more suited to aging with dignity – yes, well, we can hope – The House Between. “Between” because we are living that stage of life between now and what is to come. Sound a little macabre? It’s not. We needed move to a space with main floor accessibility for older people who may not always be able to climb stairs to sleep and eliminate. We love this home in a quiet neighborhood with offices overooking the wooded ravine behind where we feed birds and watch coyotes play leap frog. We love knowing, too, that this is not our final place – there is more healing and goodness in the next life. I’ve kept the name of my blog toadsdrinkcoffee because I don’t know how to migrate to a new one. The name is now even more obscure, but it had to do with living in Toad Hall and my addiction to coffee. However, I did migrate my old publication – Notes From Toad Hall– to the new one Letters from the House Between.